Adjustable web spreading and guiding apparatus



ADJUSTABLE WEB SPREADING AND GUIDING APPARATUS A` V. ALEXEFF Dec. 10,1968 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed sept.

ATTORNEYS Dec.`10, 1968 A. v. ALExEr-F 3,414,954

ADJUSTABLE WEB SPREADING AND GUIDING APPARATUS Filed Sept. l, 1966 2Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORNEYS United States Patent O 3,414,954 ADJUSTABLE WEBSPREADING AND GUIDING APPARATUS Alexander V. Alexei, Cleveland, Ohio,assignor to AlexetI-Snyder Enterprises, Inc., Cleveland, Ghio,

a corporation of Ohio Filed Sept. 1, 1966, Ser. No. 576,573 6 Claims.(Cl. 26-67) ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE Web spreading and guidingapparatus including plural guide rolls adjacent each edge of the webmaterial, one of said guide rolls adjacent each edge being supported bya shaft whose outer end is fixed to a pivotally mounted support plate atsuch an angle with respect to the pivotal axis of the support plate thatan extension of the pivotal axis intersects the inner end of such oneguide roll so that pivotal movement of the support plate will cause theone guide roll to pivot about its inner end in a perpendicular directiontoward and away from the web.

The present invention relates generally, as indicated, to adjustable webspreading and guiding apparatus and, more particularly, to certainimprovements in such apparatus for accurately maintaining the edgealignment of web material and particularly tire fabric material bystretching the material adjacent the edges thereof as required.

Web material which is being rapidly processed has a tendency to wander,thus necessitating the use of guiding equipment for maintaining the webmaterial on guide rolls. Moreover, oftentimes the width of the webmaterial will vary considerably due to shrinkage or other reasons, andaccordingly it is desirable to stretch the web material while it isbeing guided to provide more uniform material width.

Various types of web guiding and stretching apparatus have been devisedwhich operate satisfactorily for most purposes7 but in general they aremuch more complex and costly than necessary. For example, it has beenfound that only one of the rolls of the guiding apparatus need beadjustable to vary the angle of wrap of the web on the rolls, ratherthan two or more as is customary. Moreover, the additional stretching ofthe web which may be obtained by bodily shifting the rolls transverselywith respect to the web is minor in comparison to the stretch ing whichis obtained by changing the wrap angle and hardly worth the additionalcost of the relatively complex mounting for the rollers which isrequired to effect such transverse movement.

With the foregoing in mind, it is a principal object of this inventionto provide a web spreading and guiding apparatus in which only one ofthe rolls is angularly adjustable in a perpendicular direction towardand away from the web for increasing and decreasing the angle of wrap ofthe web against a plurality of rolls as necessitated by the amount oflateral movement of the web that is required.

Another object is to provide such a spreading and guiding apparatus inwhich all of the rolls are mounted against movement in a transversedirection parallel to the general plane of the web guided thereby.

A further object is to provide such a spreading and guiding apparatuswith novel means for angularly adjustably mounting one of the rolls insuch a manner that the innermost end of the roll which is nearest thecenter line of the web remains substantially stationary during verticalmovement of the outer end toward and away from the adjacent web edge.

3,414,954 Patented Dec. 10, 1968 ice `Other objects and advantages ofthe present invention will become apparent as the following descriptionproceeds.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the invention,then, comprises the features hereinafter fully described andparticularly pointed out in the claims, the following description andthe annexed drawing setting forth in detail a certain illustrativeembodiment of the invention, this being indicative, however, of but oneof the various ways in which the principles of the invention may beemployed.

In such annexed drawing:

FIG. l is a top plan view of a preferred form of adjustable webspreading and guiding apparatus in accordance with the present inventionshown in use guiding a web of fabric material or the like;

IFIG. 2 is a side elevation view of the apparatus of FIG, 1 is seen fromthe plane of the line 2-2 thereof;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged top plan view of one set of spreading and guiderolls for the apparatus of FIG. l with parts of the support stand brokenaway to show the mountings for the rolls; and

FIG. 4 is a vertical section taken on the plane of the line 4 4, FIG. 3.

Referring now in detail to the drawing and first especially to FIGS. land 2, a preferred form of web spreading and guiding apparatus inaccordance with this invention is generally indicated at 1 and comprisesa roll assembly 2 disposed adjacent each edge 3 of a web material 4being processed. Although the apparatus 1 may be used for guiding alltypes of fabrics, strands, textiles, foils, and film, it is particularlydesigned for guiding tire fabric material.

Each roll assembly 2 may be of identical construction, including asupport stand 5 located adjacent each web edge 3 and having a pair oflaterally spaced cantilevered shafts 6 and 7 projecting inwardly fromthe support stand 5 toward the center line of the web material 4, withguide rolls 8 and 9 journalled on the shafts 6 and 7 for supporting oneside of the web 4. The outer ends 10 of the shafts 6 and 7 may be boltedor otherwise firmly secured to the base plate 11 of the support stand 5.

Angularly adjustably mounted on the support stand 5 between the guiderolls 8 and 9 for movement toward and away from the plane of theirlongitudinal axes is an intermediate cantilevered shift 12 on which isjournalled an intermediate guide roll 13 for contacting the other sideof the web 4. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 4, angular adjustment of theintermediate shaft 12 toward and away from the plane of the guide rolls8 and 9 will increase and decrease the angle of wrap of the web material4 when threaded between the pair of guide rolls 8, 9 and inter mediateguide roll 13.

The mounting for the intermediate shaft 12 is -best seen in FIGS. 3 and4. The outer end 15 of the intermediate shaft 12 is suitably attached toa support arm 16 pivotally supported by a yoke 17 carried by the baseplate 11. An extension of the axis of the pivot pin 18 for the supportarm 16 preferably intersects the inner end 19 of the intermediate guideroll 13, whereby pivoting of the support arm 16 toward and away from theplane of the axes of the guide rolls 8, 9 will cause a correspondingmovement of the outer end 15 of the guide roll 13 but not the inner end19. Rather, the inner end 19 will remain substantially stationary,acting as a pivot about which the intermediate roll 13 is raised andlowered. Accordingly, engagement of the intermediate roll 13 with theweb 4 will always be greatest at the fabric edge 3, and such engagementwill progressively diminish in the direction of the web center line dueto the angular inclination of the intermediate roll 13 into the web 4.This s an important feature, since the angle of wrap will be greatest atthe fabric edge where the stretching is needed most, especially when itis desired to improve the cord count.

O-f course, increasing and decreasing the wrap angle will only changethe location of the web edge 3 if the rolls 8, 9 and 13 are canted inthe direction of web flow as shown, since material always has a tendencyto as sume a position perpendicular to the roll faces. Thus, the cantangle actually controls the amount and speed of fabric movement in thetransverse direction with its effectiveness depending on the angle ofwrap or grip between the rolls and web material. In actual practice, acant angle A of approximately 5 has been found suitable for mostpurposes, but it may be changed as desired simply by changing theangular position of the support stand S -with respect to its basestructure 2t), as is well known in the art.

Angular adjustment of the intermediate roll 13 is controlled by anactuator 22 mounted on the top of the support stand 5. Such actuator 22may be in the form of an air motor 23 including a reciprocable pistonrod 24 having its free end operatively connected to the support arm 16through a pivotally mounted bell crank 25 and pair of links 26. An edgesensor 30 of conventional type located adjacent the web edge 3 controlsin known manner the operation of the actuator 22. Thus, should the webedge 3 pull inwardly from the edge sensor 30, the actuator 22 will causethe intermediate guide rolls 13 to move angularly into furtherengagement with the web 4, while movement of the web edge outwardly ofthe edge sensor 30 will have the reverse effect.

Although the extent of movement of the outer end 15 of the intermediateroll 13 may obviously be varied within rather wide limits depending uponthe type of material being guided and the amount of stretching desired,a

movement of the roll 13 sufficient to establish approxig mately a oneinch interference between the web engaging profiles of the stationaryrolls 8, 9 and movable roll 13 has been found adequate to expand a sixtyinch wide web of tire fabric material six to eight inches per sidewithout any bodily shifting of the rolls 8, 9` and 13 transversely ofthe web, as is often the present day practice. The location of the innerend 19 of the intermediate roll 13 with respect to the web material doesnot appear to be very critical; it may be completely out of Contact withthe web material or slightly contacting the sarne.

From the above discussion, it can now be seen that the web spreading andguiding apparatus of the present invention is of a simple and uniqueconstruction, and yet is very effective in accurately controlling theposition of web material being processed, whether it be fabric, strands,textiles, foils, or film. Only one of the guide rolls is movable, andthen only in an angular direction into and out of engagement with theweb material for increasing and decreasing the angle of wrap of suchmaterial on the rolls. Moreover, while two stationary guide rolls areshown, it should be obvious that if the web material is sufficientlytaut both of the stationary guide rolls could be eliminated or only onestationary roll need be included, disposed adjacent the angularlyadjustable roll, without departing from the teachings of the presentinvention.

Other modes of applying the principles of the invention may be employed,change being made as regards the details described, provided thefeatures stated in any of the following claims or the equivalent of suchbe employed.

I therefore, particularly point out and distinctly claim as myinvention:

1. Web spreading and guiding apparatus comprising a pair of supportstands, one adjacent each edge of an elongated strip of web material, afirst shaft fixed to each of .said support stands, a first guide rolljournalled on each of said rst shafts inwardly of said support standsfor engaging one side of the web material adjacent the respective edgesthereof, a second shaft for each such support stand laterally spacedfrom said first shaft and having a second guide roll journalled thereonfor engaging the other side of the web material adjacent the respectiveedges, means mounting each `of said second shafts on their respectivesupport stands for angular adjustment with respect to their respectivefirst shafts to vary the amount of interference between the web engagingprofiles of said first and second rolls and thus the angle of wrap ofsuch web material against said first and second rolls whilesubstantially maintaining the location of said second shaft with respectto the center line of the web material, said mounting means for each ofsaid second shafts effecting such angular adjustment by causing movementof the ends of said second shafts which are outward of the web materialtoward and away from such web material while maintaining the inner endsof said second shafts nearest the center line of the web materialsubstantially stationary, said mounting means for each of said secondshafts comprising a support plate, means mounting said support plate forpivotal movement, each of said second shafts being fixed to theirassociated support plates spaced from the pivotal axes of said supportplates, each of said second shafts being disposed at an angle such thatan extension of the pivotal axes of the respective support platesintersects the inner ends of said second guide rolls; pivot means forpivoting each of said support plates toward and away from the webmaterial; and edge sensor means located adjacent each edge of the webmaterial for actuating said pivot means in response to changes in thewidth of the web material.

2. The web spreading and guiding apparatus of claim 1 wherein said pivotmeans for each of said support plates includes a motor carried by eachof said support stands, said motor having a piston rod projectingtherefrom, a bell crank pivotally connected to said piston rod and alsopivoted to said support stand, and a link connecting said bell crank tosaid support plate.

3. Apparatus for guiding the movement of web material comprising a pairof shafts each having a guide roll journalled thereon, and shaftmounting means mounting said shafts adjacent opposite edges of the webmaterial for angular movement of said guide rolls in a perpendiculardirection into and out of engagement with the web material for varyingthe angle of wrap of such web material against said guide rolls whilesubstantially maintaining the relative locations of said shafts withrespect to the center line of the web material, said mounting means forsaid shafts being operative to cause movement of the ends of said shaftswhich are outward of the web material in such perpendicular directiontoward and away from such web material while maintaining the inner endsof said shafts nearest the center line of the web material substantiallystationary, said inner ends of said shafts acting as a pivot about whichsaid shafts are raised and lowered away and toward the web material, andmeans responsive to lateral movement of the web material to actuate saidshaft mounting means for one or both of said shafts.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein said mounting means for said shaftscomprises a support plate for each shaft, means mounting said supportplates for pivotal movement, said shafts being fixed to their respectivesupport plates spaced from their pivotal axes and disposed at an anglesuch that an extension of their pivotal axes intersects the inner endsof said guide rolls, and pivot means are provided for pivoting saidsupport plates toward and away from the web material.

5. The apparatus of claim 3 further comprising another shaft laterallyspaced from each of said first-mentioned shafts adjacent opposite edgesof the web material and having another guide roll journalled thereon forengaging the opposite side of the web material, said rstmentioned shaftswhen angularly adjusted in a perpendicular direction toward and awayfrom the web material varying the amount of interference between the webengaging profiles of the rolls adjacent opposite edges of the webmaterial and thus the angle of wrap of such web material against saidrolls.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 further comprising a third shaft laterallyspaced from each of said another shafts with said rst-mentioned shaftsdisposed between said third and another shafts adjacent opposite edgesof the web material, a third guide roll journalled on each of said thirdshafts for engaging the opposite Side of the web material, wherebyangular adjustment of said first-mentioned shafts in a perpendiculardirection toward and away from the web material varies the amount ofinterference between the web engaging profiles of all of said rollsadjacent opposite edges of the web material so as to vary the against.

angle of wrap of such web material there- References Cited UNITED STATESPATENTS 5/1921 Thornber 26-65 9/1962 Alexeff et al. 226-21 XR 10/1963Richards et al. 226--22 XR 11/ 1964 Snyder et al. 26-65 XR 9/ 1967Alexei et al. 226-21 ROBERT R. MACKEY, Primary Examiner'.

U.S. Cl. X.R.

